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Nuggets' Gallinari sidelined by left knee soreness

David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Well, this is concerning.

Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari left the team's game against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night due to knee soreness and won't return.

Not to be alarmist, but Gallinari tore the ACL in his left knee in April of 2013, subsequently missing the rest of that season and all of 2013-14 as a result. He's only recently been rounding back into form after beginning 2014-15 rusty following 18 months off the court.

Gallinari played nine minutes before checking out, shooting 0-of-3 and grabbing one rebound. In 14 games heading into Wednesday's action, he was averaging 7.7 points and 3.1 rebounds in 19.4 minutes, shooting a paltry 34.1 percent from the floor. Still, patience was being preached, and he had averaged 14 points on 54.2 percent shooting over his past three games.

It's certainly possible this knee soreness is unrelated or that his absence is just precautionary. Should he miss any time, though, Wilson Chandler and Alonzo Gee stand to see their roles expanded, as could sparsely-used rookie Gary Harris.

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